by Nora Cobb
“Got it,” I responded, eager to find my father’s name amongst the ledgers. “Just curious, what would happen if I did take one of the books out of here?”
The curator leaned forward. “I would have to cut off your head, lass.”
I gasped and he chuckled, shaking his head. “That never gets old. Lass, they quit doing beheadings here centuries ago. Now that’s something to study, the history of this place. I don’t know why young people these days don’t like doing so. They are engrossed with those glowing screens and the like. That will never get you anywhere.”
He was definitely right about that. “Anything else?”
He pointed to a sleek computer on the table. “That will let you look up any student’s name and everything that the name is tagged to.”
I just stared at the old man. “You were going to let me look through the books when I could have just used the computer?”
He laughed, clearly tickled at his own attempt to make my life miserable for an afternoon. “No, I would have only let you look for a little while, but if you are interested in looking at the books, you are more than welcome to do so, lass.”
I still liked him. “Thanks, I mean for not letting me waste my time and for your help.”
His eyes twinkled in merriment. “You’re welcome, lass. If you need anything, just come find me.”
“Thanks again,” I called after him as he left me, dropping my bag on the table that was nearby. I was on the cusp of hopefully learning something about my father, about the man I would never get to meet.
And by learning about him, I hoped to learn about my mother as well. What if she was still alive and wondering about me?
What if she had given me up for a reason, like she didn’t want anything to do with me?
I shrugged off the thought as I sat down in front of the computer, tapping on the keyboard to get the screen to pull up. The cursor blinked over the empty box for the student’s name and I hesitated, wondering if anyone monitored this information. There were only five people in this academy who knew my father’s name and one of them was likely the person who could have access to my search entry.
Did I dare? I would be pushing the envelope the moment that I typed his name in and defying everything that Katarina had warned me about.
But this was my life, my future, my past. I craved knowing who I belonged to and how I had come to be on this earth, at this academy.
And it all started with my father.
Drawing in a surprisingly calm breath, I typed his name in the box and hit the send button, watching as the circle spun around, processing my request. What would I do if there was nothing there? What if I had gotten this far only to hit another roadblock?
I didn’t have to wait long.
My heart in my throat, I watched as result after result was listed. My father had been here, nearly twenty-five years ago. I swallowed the emotion as I pulled up his entrance record, a severe-looking young man staring back at me. He was glaring at the camera, his lips pulled down into a disapproving frown that made him look older than his eighteen years.
It was my father.
I reached out and touched the screen, knowing that I wouldn’t feel any sort of connection with him. I had his forehead and nose, gently sloping into what most people called an aristocratic nose. But that was where our similarities ended. All my other features must be my mother’s.
Under his picture were his parents’ names, which had me pulling out my notebook and jotting them down for later searching.
His GPA from some school I had never heard of was there and I was surprised to see that he was smart, a GPA of 4.0 staring back at me.
Either that or his family’s money had bought it. But given the serious look about him, I doubted it. There was something that told me he was a smart man and not at all like some of the students currently in the academy.
I scrolled down the page, reading his accolades from his time at the academy.
Number-one ranked polo player in the school, fourth in the world. Great. That might have been why I had been attracted to Arthur then.
Captain of the debate team. Maybe that was where I got my arguing skills from.
First published article in The Journal of Philosophy, age nineteen, on religion and the impacts on political gains. Yeah, I couldn’t relate to that one.
But with each thing I read about him, I found myself missing a person I hadn’t even met. It hurt. Oh, it hurt to know that he had walked these halls, likely spent an enormous amount of time in these very archives, yet that was the closest I could get to him.
Still, I had learned more in the last hour or two than I had known coming into this place today. Now it all seemed real; my father wasn’t just a figment of everyone’s imagination but a human being.
One that had had a great deal to do with making me.
There was a link to external information about him and I clicked it, surprised when a page’s worth of information populated. This was the information that I had been unable to find on my own, like he had been wiped from memory.
The first link I clicked on took me to an article about the death of a child by the name of Leo and his funeral, my father’s name highlighted a few times, including that he had given the eulogy.
I had a brother, born around the same time that I was.
I gasped as I read on, seeing that Katarina Isauros was the mother. No wonder she hated me. I was a constant reminder of what she had lost.
Had Leo been born before me? A quick look confirmed my suspicions. He had been born six months before me.
Which meant that upon his death, I had taken his spot.
I sat back in the chair, numbly looking at the screen. I couldn’t even process this. What a tragedy Katarina had gone through.
No wonder she was a bitter woman.
“Is this where you hide, pauper?”
I jumped and spun around to find Royce lounging behind me, a smirk on his handsome face. “Do you not know it’s rude to sneak up on people?”
He grinned, a lock of hair falling over his forehead. “What are you looking at?”
“None of your business,” I growled, glaring at him.
He glanced over my shoulder. “Digging into your father’s past?”
“What do you have to say about that?” I asked, waiting for his smart-assed comments he loved to throw out at me.
He shrugged, casually strolling over to prop his hip on the table. “Nothing.”
I arched a brow. “Who are you and what did you do with Royce?”
His grin widened. “Oh, believe me, my little pauper, I’m still the same guy. But perhaps I’m feeling generous today.”
“I doubt you even know the meaning of generosity,” I answered, though my guard lowered somewhat.
“You’d be surprised.” he replied, motioning to the screen with his head. “Tell me, what have you learned?”
Surprised that he would be interested, I turned back to the screen. “Apparently I had a half-brother at some point.”
“Interesting.”
“Did you do any digging into my family, Royce?” I found myself asking, still a little concerned by his sudden interest and him being nice to me. Of all the kings, he had been the one who hadn’t changed his demeanor with me, except at this moment.
I was highly suspicious.
Royce shifted on the table, a snort escaping him. “As if I have the time or energy to bother.”
I smirked. That sounded more like the Royce I had come to know. “Well, I haven’t learned much else, only that my father was some sort of genius polo-playing debater. Seems that I’ve inherited none of those skills.”
Royce pushed away from the table, dropping his arms. “You would be surprised at how much more like him you actually are.”
Laughing, I eyed him. “You think I could play polo?”
He smiled a real smile, with no bitterness or maliciousness in it. “I think you could do anything you want.”
“I think
you are teasing me,” I said, not really sure what to say. I didn’t know how to handle this Royce, the one who was starting to make me question if I had judged him all wrong. I didn’t want to think that way. I wanted to see him as the bitter king that he was and not, well human.
“You know I am telling you the truth, Anna.”
Shocked to silence, I watched as he walked off, leaving me to stare behind him. What just happened? Did he just call me Anna—which was rare enough on its own—but did he just give me a compliment? It was so foreign, yet the warmth that was bubbling in my chest scared the crap out of me.
Whatever it was, I wasn’t so sure I would be any more prepared the next go-round with Royce.
Turning back to the screen, I exited out of the search, gathering my things. I had learned enough about my father for today. As I glanced at Leo’s name again, I realized the true reason Katarina hated me.
She didn’t hate me because her husband had fathered me with another woman.
She didn’t hate me because I reminded her of her loss.
She hated me because I reminded her of her failures.
Chapter 19
The next day I awoke with a mind to start fresh, to put some things behind me. I didn’t know what had caused the change, but I was tired of hanging onto the hurt and pain that I had found in my brief time here at the academy. There were far more serious things for me to deal with now, like how I had gotten to the academy in the first place and if I had any family left to be reunited with.
And I wanted to start with Arthur.
I dressed casually for my visit to his house, knowing that it wasn’t going to start out pleasant. He had hurt me, like really hurt me, but it was doing no good for me to hold onto that hurt.
After dressing, I grabbed my bag and started out to his mansion, knowing that the seniors did not have classes today. Freshmen were finished too, the last exam taken, and now came the wait to see what our final grades were. I was concerned, especially knowing that the headmistress had it out for me, that they could be handing me my pink slip regardless of how I did on the exams. And if they did, well, I would have the freedom to search for my family.
Surprisingly there was a small piece of me that hoped I could stay. I was intrigued about the academy now, wanting to see where this road took me.
The sun was shining brightly overhead as I decided to walk to his house rather than take any sort of taxi, tucking my bag close to my body, the one that Johanna had gotten me. This was probably the first time I felt some sort of peace with myself and all that had happened, realizing that this was all part of my life.
I mean, I didn’t like the fact that I had been used, my heart broken, but I could get over it. People got over broken hearts every day.
That and the kings, for whatever reason, were being kind of nice to me lately. Royce had shocked the hell out of me yesterday in the archives and I knew that Arthur wanted to talk about what had happened between us.
Max, well, he still remained a mystery that I wasn’t so sure I wanted to solve.
Finally, Arthur’s house came into view and I walked up to the door, knocking on it. I didn’t even know if he was home or out somewhere, but I was willing to take a chance.
The door opened a moment later and Arthur stood there, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt that stretched deliciously over his chest. He looked like he had just rolled out of bed and I longed to smooth down his hair on his head just so I could run my fingers through it. “Anna,” he said, surprised. “What are you doing here?”
I swallowed, attempting to make my mouth not so dry. “I, um, can we talk?”
“Sure,” he said quickly, pulling the door open wider. “Come in. I was just about to fix some breakfast.”
“Your servants aren’t doing it for you?” I teased as I stepped inside.
“No, it’s their day off,” he grinned as he shut the door behind us. “And I can do some things myself, you know.”
I followed him to the massive gourmet kitchen, dropping my bag on the granite island as I had done many times before. Arthur moved to the subzero fridge and pulled out some eggs, rummaging through the cabinet for a pan.
I made myself comfortable on one of the stools, content to watch him work his magic at the stove. If no one knew who we were, they would see a young couple just having a conversation and breakfast.
It was far from the truth.
“So,” he finally said as he cracked an egg into the sizzling frying pan.
“So,” I answered, swinging my foot back and forth. “Do you want to know what I have learned?”
“Sure,” Arthur said as he scrambled the eggs. “I heard you were in the archives.”
Of course he had. “My father was a polo player.”
Arthur chuckled, pulling down two plates. “And a damn good one at that, Anna. I’ve seen films from his days. He could have made a living by just doing that if he hadn’t been so obsessed with his own legacy.”
My heart warmed. “You’ve seen my father play?”
He nodded, turning to push the plate of steaming eggs before me. “I have some if you want to see them later on.”
I would, but instead I took the fork from the counter and dug into the eggs. “I’ve come to tell you that I don’t hold a grudge against you for what you did to me.”
Arthur hung his head. “I’m sorry, Anna. I never meant to hurt you.”
I swallowed the lump of eggs in my mouth, not really wanting to go down this path again but knowing I needed to. Wasn’t that the whole point of coming over here to begin with? So I could move on and start to heal? “I can’t forget what you did nor can I trust you completely, Arthur.”
His entire body stiffened. “I know, Anna, and for that, I won’t ever forgive myself.”
I felt like his words were sincere. It was just the two of us and there was no way he was getting lucky with me right now or ever, so he had no reason to lie. “Thank you.”
“I hope that you’ll understand one day why I did it,” he continued, his voice low and full of emotion. “There are reasons I can’t explain right now, but I imagine you will learn one day that not everything is done to ruin another. Not in our world.”
I didn’t know how to answer that. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to respond. I couldn’t think of any reason that would make what they had attempted to do right, but then again, I was just learning a lot about their world and what I had seen, well, I wasn’t that impressed.
But I had to remember that it was to be my world as well, if everything I was learning was true about my parents. “I hope so,” I finally said, finding nothing else to say.
He nodded and we ate our eggs in silence, the sounds of our forks scraping the plates the only echo. “These are good,” I finally said, pushing my plate away, now empty. “You should go on the road, Arthur.”
Arthur picked up my plate and placed it in the sink, running the water over it. “It’s the only thing our chef will let me cook in his kitchen.”
“His kitchen?”
Arthur grabbed the towel from the handle and wiped his hands, a grin on his face. “It’s his domain. Not even my father is allowed in the kitchen and he bought the damn thing.”
I shook my head. “I can’t even imagine what it must be like to live like that.”
“You will find out soon enough,” Arthur answered, leaning against the sink. “Soon you will be living with the other nobility like the rest of us, Anna.”
“I’m not sure I even want that sort of life,” I sighed, drumming my fingers along the black countertop. Most people would look at me like I was crazy the moment those words left my lips. Everyone, regardless of what they said, always wished for the Cinderella-type life. The glitz, the glamour, the power; everyone wished for that at some point in their lives.
I had it within my grasp but after what I had seen from my fellow classmates, I wasn’t so sure that was the best life.
“You know that it’s not easy,” Arthur stated, his ey
es on me. God, he had lovely eyes. “There are times I wish I didn’t have this life either.”
I believed him. “What would you do if you weren’t who you are?” I asked.
He gave me a half shrug. “I would likely be a horse trainer. I really enjoy being around horses.”
“Not a jockey?” I teased, laughing as I pictured him in one of those tight jockey uniforms.
His grin was quick. “Nah, I wouldn’t want to have women falling out over my body.”
